


the champions of house rocks

by tusktooth



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Gen, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28230342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tusktooth/pseuds/tusktooth
Summary: Four champions, all exemplifying different virtues, must set off to free the Rocks sisters before the war is lost.
Relationships: minor Caramelinda Rocks/Lazuli Rocks
Comments: 7
Kudos: 10
Collections: Dimension 20 Big Bang





	the champions of house rocks

**Author's Note:**

> i'm so happy to finally share my big bang fic with y'all!!! this fic is canon divergent from before the fight with the sugar plum fairy, with a different spin on an ending to the season. hope you like it!  
> a million thanks to will [(phantasmapopuli)](https://twitter.com/phantasmapopuli)!!! they are the amazing artist that i was lucky to get to collaborate with on this project. their art is outstanding and y'all should really check it out  
> also, check out the other works in the collection. everyone has been working so hard on their pieces and, from the previews alone, i can tell that it's all going to be absolutely amazing.  
> [you can find me on tumblr](http://adaine.tumblr.com/)

_-a quest-_

It’s a shock to them all, really, that Caramelinda would keep such a valuable card to herself but, considering the doubt involved and the potential reactions from the others if she had been wrong, not to mention the shattered hope it would cause in herself if the plan were to fail, she decided to research the subject on her own and try to get the best intel possible without alerting anyone else to what she was trying to discover. _Especially_ not Amethar, who would be more hurt by it if she had been wrong than anyone other than maybe Caramelinda herself.

In times like these, though, every card needed to be on the table. It was them, the Dairy Isles, and Saccharina and her marauders against the rest of the world. Putting Saccharina on the throne wasn’t exactly Caramelinda’s first choice but if that’s what it took to reclaim Candia, she would have to do it. And there might be something yet preventing her full ascension to the throne, the very thing that she had been toying with since the death of her wife.

The thing was, Caramelinda had reason to believe that all four of the Rocks sisters were alive.

It was an offhand comment from Lazuli that set her on this path and, if she was going to be quite honest, for a long time she had thought she was only looking into it because she was a grieving widow.

The night before Lazuli had left that last time, she had pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then toyed with the gem on a necklace she was wearing, almost as if she was distracted.

“I will see you again, my love, in another time,” she had told her. “Soon, for me at least. I think. Probably. It will happen but the timing of these things, it’s always quite confusing. But yes, my love I will see you.”

When she hadn’t returned, when they had buried a body that seemed to belong to her, Caramelinda, as distraught as she was, had also been deeply confused. Because, while Lazuli’s ramblings were confusing at times, especially since the war had begun, she had never been _wrong_ about her predictions. Sure, Lazuli sometimes got so enthralled in her studies that she forgot to sleep, or she disappeared for a week without thinking to tell anybody, but when it came to things like this, when it came to saying that something was going to happen, she was always correct.

She wracked per brain endlessly, all while continuing her duties to her kingdom and continuing to worship the Bulb, who she loved despite having a connection to the arcane, as taboo as it was. And, for a long time, the scraps of what she had seemed like the workings of a madwoman.

It wasn’t until the twins were about five that the scattered pieces of her puzzle even started to messily tie themselves together. First, a tall tale about a Bulbian ritual powerful enough to stomp out all the arcane magic in the world. Then, rumors of a giant brown boulder that seemed almost as if it were made of chocolate deep in the Meat Lands, miles upon miles north of Carn.

It was the reveal that, other than the boulder in the Meat Lands, there were four other gems of legend, which vaguely lined up with the wording of the ritual, and all which had such familiar descriptions, where everything finally clicked together.

Up in the Meat Lands, somewhere deep in the middle of the toughest boulder, the spirit of the great General Rococoa Rocks was trapped. Only a champion of great strength and confidence could cleave through the thick layers of chocolate rock and free her.

Near the crossroads of the Frucian and Glucian Roads, and a fair bit up in the clouds, there was a deep blue piece of lapis lazuli where Caramelinda’s beloved, Archmage Lazuli Rocks, was waiting to be freed by a champion that believed in the power of arcane magic without question.

In Vegetania, inside the biggest Bulbian church in Brightgarden, a bright yellow piece of citrine held Saint Citrina Rocks, waiting and watching for a champion who valued the power of love as an instrument to transform the world.

Buried somewhere in the Great Dunes of Grain a light blue sapphire contained the Princess Sapphria Rocks. She awaited a champion who was inquisitive and daring to free her from her chains.

The fifth gem, of course, was located deep in the Dairy Sea. A robust chunk of bright pink amethyst awaited the final victim needed for the ritual to take place. Of course, how could it have anyone residing within it when Amethar had such a powerful relationship with the Dairy Isles?

Four remaining gems contained four sisters and, thus, required four champions.

The biggest problem with this was, by the time Caramelinda had, quite begrudgingly, realized that Saccharina was the champion meant to free Lazuli, she had already lost Jet, who was, without a shadow of a doubt, Rococoa’s champion.

“Death isn’t necessarily an end,” Cumulous told her after she had shared this with the group.

They all stared at him in confusion.

“While that might be true of the Rocks sisters, seemingly, I’m afraid that I don’t think we can apply that same logic to Jet,” Theo replied. “Liam held her in his arms as she died. He felt it happen.”

“Yes,” Cumulous said with a nod. “She’s dead now. That doesn’t mean that she always has to be. There are clerics that ally themselves with the Order of the Spinning Star, those who pledged allegiance to Lazuli, and some have the power to bring someone back from death itself.”

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” asked Amethar, clearly at a loss.

“Power like that shouldn’t be used without great need,” he explained with a shrug. “Jet, she seemed as if she was a lovely girl, but we didn’t know of her destiny until just now.”

“So my daughter is only important if she can save Candia?” he asked, confusion quickly transforming into anger.

Cumulous clearly seemed unphased by this. “It seems so.”

Caramelinda set a hand on Amethar’s shoulder before he could go into a full rage. “He can save her. It doesn’t matter why.”

Amethar nodded and settled down.

“You can really do it?” Ruby asked. “You can bring back my sister?”

“It seems as if that’s the only way,” Cumulous replied with a shrug.

“This plan, it will save Candia?” Saccharina asked, turning toward Caramelinda. “It will preserve the Sweetening Path?”

And this, this was the hope that Caramelinda wanted to avoid. Because there was a chance that she was wrong, that none of this would work. That they’d all have to mourn Lazuli and the others all over again.

Still, she nodded. “This plan is the only thing that can keep Calorum from falling into the hands of those who would see its destruction.”

_-a punch-_

Jet, who had structured her entire life around strength, felt weaker than ever as she marched alone through the Meat Lands in the clothes of a peasant, Flickerish hanging at her side, covered in the buttery blood of Ceresian bandits that had attacked her on her way into the Meat Lands.

Being dead was a thoroughly awful experience, not that she remembered much of it. Apparently, she had visited Ruby as her shadow. She didn’t remember that one bit.

Living your life after being dead, it was more like just feeling like you had missed out on everything than anything else. Everyone had seen her dead body and they had mourned her but she hadn’t really been there for that. Now they all looked at her differently, as if she was some fragile little thing and, even though she was slightly weaker due to having been _resurrected from the dead_ , she wasn’t easily broken. She had even snapped at Theo when he had inadvertently suggested that she might be, even though he probably didn’t mean it how she took it.

And then there was Saccharina, this new half-sister that she had never known about. Most everyone else already seemed to have their opinions set about her. Her dad’s seemed to be pure lack of care, as if she was a means to an end to him. Given the insane circumstances that they’d found themselves in, she probably was. Her mom and Ruby seemed to hate Saccharina and, despite not having even been there, she felt that it was partly because of her and the grief she’d caused. Theo seemed to like her a lot, seeing something of Lazuli in her. It was evident that her mom saw that bit too, as much as she probably wished it wasn’t there.

She didn’t really know what to make of Saccharina. Sure, everyone else had their opinions of her, but Jet wasn’t really one to make judgments based purely on the thoughts of others. On the surface level, Saccharina’s magic was really cool and she remained strong after a lot of hardship, which was pretty inspiring. As a potential ruler, she had mixed feelings about her. Sure, her dad hadn’t been the best king in the world and neither had his father before him. Saccharina wanted to be the best ruler she could be, but was that desire enough to make her fit for the role? Jet had always been so disinterested in inheriting the throne but now, given everything that she had seen from pretty much anyone in a place of power, she wasn’t so sure. She could be the one to inspire people and make a difference, just like her aunts could have been, like her dad might have been if he hadn’t lost them.

Thinking of Saccharina from a sister perspective was much more difficult for her to really examine her feelings about and, as she carried on toward the boulder, she had a _lot_ of time to think about it. By blood, Saccharina was her half-sister, but nobody acted like it because she was also a stranger. She wasn’t sure she could call her a sister right now, or if she even wanted to. But she also wasn’t sure that would be her perspective on it forever. She hadn’t even known of her existence until after she’d died, none of them had. Blood or no blood, you don’t gain a sister in a manner of days. Jet could tell that she would never have the relationship with Saccharina that she did with Ruby, or Liam even. But hopefully, with time, she could build some sort of relationship with her, especially if she was going to be taking a place on the throne, which wasn’t even a surety at this point.

Cumulous Rocks was also a pretty intriguing character. She had met him before her death, but only barely. The way he fought was cool as shit and, when this was all over, she thought that maybe she could learn a thing or two from him since he was also a guy that relied on being swift on his feet in combat.

Her dad had told her that he didn’t trust him because he had withheld information about bringing her back until it was necessary to save the Sweetening Path. She didn’t really have hard feelings about it. Even if he was distantly related to her, he didn’t _know_ her. Why would he reveal a great secret of his order to save a stranger that didn’t mean anything?

Theo didn’t trust him either but that was because he drew lifeforce from killing stuff. Jet thought that was metal as hell.

There were a few other downsides to being brought back to the dead but she wasn’t sure that they were necessarily due to having lost her life rather than the way that she lost it. Jet found herself whipping around every few seconds because she thought there was someone behind her, only to find long stretches of empty road. Other times, she would breathe so quickly that she could barely breathe at all and had to stop to calm herself down for a while.

And sometimes she felt a bit hollow. Not as if her soul was gone, but rather that a piece of it had escaped her, that last bit of youth that she had been grasping onto when they had run over to that lingerie shop in the first place. She wondered if Ruby had lost it too. She thought that she had and maybe Liam had too.

It was weird, bringing her hand around to her back where she could just barely feel the thick, rubbery stretch of skin where the knife that killed her had entered into her body. Jet had never been afraid of having battle scars. In fact, she had welcomed them. Now she wished for nothing more than to have never gotten it in the first place.

She was supposed to have people with her on this journey, technically. There was nothing that indicated that the champions couldn’t bring people with them, only further risk of discovery if a group of Candians were found together in foreign lands.

Ruby and Liam were both traveling alone because, even though they were traveling deep into enemy territory, they were the sneakiest by far. Ruby could be someone else when she needed to and Liam was practically impossible to discover if he traveled primarily at night. Why would they need somebody else?

Saccharina was not traveling on her own. Her two most trusted marauders, Gooey and Swifty, neither of which Jet trusted at all, were at her side. Jet didn’t know her well enough to be able to tell if it made sense for her to have a team or not.

Theo was supposed to accompany Jet to the Meat Lands by the orders of her mom. She was weakened due to her resurrection and the Meat Lands were a dangerous place for travelers because their primal clans, worshippers of the Great Beasts, weren’t afraid to attack strangers on the road. Jet was starting to think that was just a load of Bulbian bullshit because everyone here seemed pretty chill and she _had_ been attacked in Ceresia. Maybe that was partially due to the fact that the Meat Lands wasn’t quite in open war with Candia. The wildlife, however, _was_ a potential concern, especially now that she was getting pretty far north.

Anyway, she liked Theo well enough, but she didn’t think it was useful to have him along on this mission. Theo was a known face, wanted by various people across Calorum for a hefty bounty and he surely wasn’t inconspicuous, clanking around in fancy golden armor. Jet, however, was legally dead. The main perk of having died and then been resurrected, besides not being dead anymore, was the fact that your enemies wouldn’t be looking for you.

So she had snuck out in the dead of night which honestly wasn’t that difficult. She always had been pretty good at sneaking out from under Theo’s nose, now was no different. This was a journey that Jet needed to make alone.

She was getting pretty close to the boulder, based on the description given to her by her mother, but she still wasn’t sure exactly where it was or exactly what she was looking for. One would think that a giant chocolate boulder would be hard to miss in a landscape of red fields of meat with bones jutting out but the meatlands were vast and this part, in particular, wasn’t very flat.

Hearing the heavy stomping of boots, Jet ducked behind a piece of rib.

It was not an effective hiding place.

“Candy girl. Do not fear,” said a voice in broken Candian.

She forced herself to emerge from her hiding spot and was faced with a woman made of curling pieces of lamb.

“Hello,” she replied in Carnish, suddenly very appreciative of the lessons she’d received as a child. “I’m just a traveler. Don’t mind me.”

The woman smiled softly. “It is nearly night. You should get inside. The beasts, they don’t mean to harm people, but they get startled at night so it’s not safe for travel.”

Jet shook her head. “I need to keep going. I’m trying to find this place, I don’t know if you know it, but it’s this huge brown boulder thing that may or may not be made of chocolate.”

Her eyes widened and Jet feared that she’d offended her. “Others know of the Blessing?”

“Huh?”

“The Great Sheep gifted us a grand boulder after the war,” she explained. “It symbolizes the strength of the Meat Lands when we came together in a time of need.”

“Can you point me to it?” she asked.

The woman looked to her with concern. “I really worry about you off alone at night. You’re only a girl and I don’t know how the beasts would react to Candians.”

“I can handle myself,” she told her, pattering Flickerish at her side.

She sighed. “Very well. Down the road and up the Great Winged Cliffs, a boulder is near the highest point. Even with only the light of the moon and the stars, you won’t be able to miss it.”  
“Thank you,” she told the woman with a smile before continuing on her journey.

Based on what the kind woman had said, Jet had inferred that the boulder was reasonably close. She was very sorely mistaken. After over two hours of hiking, she had only barely made it to the Great Winged Cliffs.

But the good news was, as expected, she could see it in the light of the moon, probably half of a mile away, plus up a fair bit.

A loud grunting noise behind her made her jump. How had she missed it? How had they gotten the drop on her yet again?

Jet slowly turned and did not find Senator Ciabatta standing behind her with a water-steel dagger but instead an enormous meaty beast with long mammoth tusks.

She put her hand on Flickerish for a moment but opted for raising her hands slowly instead. She couldn’t beat this thing in a fight. If Lapin were here, he’d tell her to use her words, even if she doubted a beast like this would understand them.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” she told the thing in Carnish as if that would actually make any difference to the beast.

It continued to look down at her, almost curious.

Slowly, Jet reached into her satchel and pulled out a handful of small gumdrops, snacks she’d been eating on the road, and tossed them on the ground in front of the creature, who sniffed the pile hesitantly before leaning down and eating the gumdrops in one bite.

The creature bounded toward Jet and licked the side of her face, making her yelp in surprise. “Don’t eat me, now. I’m pretty sweet but candy bones aren’t as chewy.”

It nuzzled her side playfully, thankfully not making a move to bite her or anything. 

She ran a hand along its meaty hide, just above its nose. “Can you give me a ride?”

Jumping on the beast’s back, she petted it soothingly and reached forward a hand to gesture toward the cliffs ahead. “Can you run over there?”

The beast burst forward and she was barely able to grab hold of its long tusks before being flung off. Maybe she’d bring this thing back, partially just to show it off to Liam because this creature was kind of cool as hell.

With the creature’s speed, she was able to quickly make her way through the cliffs and up to the boulder without having to draw too much breath.

She hugged the creature as she dismounted it before offering a few more gumdrops. “I don’t think I can actually take you with me, bud. The Meat Lands is your home and I can’t take you away.”

It nuzzled her again, clearly unable to understand what she was saying. She was sure that it would get it eventually.

Jet turned to the boulder which seemed to be exactly what was described: a massive chocolate boulder. Half of her had expected this to be the easy part, as if her aunt would just spring forth as soon as she arrived.

“Great General Rococoa!” she called, bowing and setting Flickerish in front of the boulder. “I’m your niece, Princess Jet Rocks of Candia, here to free you from the boulder that is binding you.”

Nothing happened.

“For the Sweetening Path!” she tried. “And being a great Candian warrior! And stuff!”

Still, there was no sign of anything from the boulder and she was starting to think that maybe her mom had been mistaken after all, whether it be about the boulder or the quest as a whole. She _was_ the champion if there was one.

“Fuck it,” she mumbled to herself with a shake of her head. “Words only get you so far. Let’s do this my way.”

She picked up Flickerish and started to hack away at the boulder. It was a rapier, so she could only do so much, but if this was the only way, she could deal with it.

Jet hacked away throughout the night, slowly carving off choppy layers of hard dark chocolate with a blade that was getting duller and duller by the second as she was about to collapse in exhaustion. This would be hard enough if she _wasn’t_ exhausted via resurrection.

When the sun started to rise and she got a better look at the boulder, which had barely shrunk at all and still showed no sign of her aunt, she screamed and drove her fist into the chocolate as hard as she could, well aware that it could break her hand.

But it didn’t. Instead, the chocolate shattered under her fist, falling to the ground like a pile of dust as a woman with stark white hair and dark brown skin emerged from the middle.

She rose with a strength that she saw mirrored in her father, as if he had been trying to emulate her all of these years.

“Jet Rocks,” she said, standing tall. “Daughter of King Amethar and granddaughter of my father, King Jadain, you’ve come here, to the Meat Lands, and rescued me from my prison. On the behalf of myself and of Calorum, I thank you.”

She bowed her head. “It’s an honor to meet you, General Rococoa.”

Rococoa smiled and squeezed her shoulder. “You can call me Aunt Rococoa, kid. It’s really nice to meet you.”

“How long have you been there?” she asked her, nodding toward the pile of chocolate dust.

“A long time,” she replied with a shrug. “Since Calroy Cruller had his soldiers turn on me when I discovered his treachery.”

“He’s a dick,” she told her as they started back down the cliff. “Apparently, he tried to kill dad on the night that Senator Ciabatta, also a major dick, killed me.”

Instinctively, she turned around to check her back even though she knew she wouldn’t find anything but an empty stretch of cliff.

Rococoa clearly saw this because she set a protective hand on her back. “I’ve got you, kid. Every great warrior has their scars and the physical ones are always more pretty than the others”

“I knew that I was your champion but, for a moment, I feared that I wouldn’t be able to get you out now that I’m haunted by my shadow trailing behind me,” she admitted.

“You’re a great warrior, with strength and confidence in your abilities,” she told her. “That’s what makes a champion, at least for me. Having confidence doesn’t mean lacking fear. Bravery is just being willing to fight despite it.”

Jet nodded and a smile spread across her face as she thought of everything that she’d gone through recently and about how she’d still gone and made this journey despite it all. “I’m a brave warrior and I’m going to kick Ciabetta’s stupid ass!”

_-a thought-_

Saccharina knew that, by all logic in the world, she shouldn’t be so afraid to meet Lazuli. After all, this was all that she had wanted her entire life. Lazuli, even in what appeared to be death, had guided her through a childhood of abuse and into an adulthood of power and respect.

Yet, as she strutted down the road, toward the center of Fructera, she was nearly trembling.

Stealth had never been part of this mission for her. She had Gooey, Swifty, and the power of the Sweetening Path at her side and that was all that she needed to face her foes on this journey. They couldn’t send armies after her in the minimal time it took for her to journey to the crossroads.

So she wasn’t trembling due to the fear of battle. They had been in a few fights on the way out and had made it out more than okay. No, it was meeting her mentor, the aunt that she had practically worshipped, that had her scared.

When nobody else was there for her, Lazuli was. She had loved her without conditions, without her claim to the throne. That much was something that she was starting to think that she was never going to get from her father or from Ruby. She didn’t really know Jet very much to tell either way but she wasn’t optimistic about it. She had learned that there was no room for optimism when it came to the Rocks family.

Certainly, she received no love from her step-mother. Caramelinda was nothing but polite but it was pretty obvious that she felt nothing but disdain for her, probably because of her claim to the throne. It was odd to Saccharina that the woman who had loved her mentor so much would have such immediate hate for her.

But Saccharina didn’t need Caramelinda or any of the rest of Amethar’s family. She had the love of Lazuli, which had got her through the worst parts of her life, and she had magic twinkling at her fingertips.

Still, a small fear tickled at the back of her mind. Lazuli had been there for her, sure, but now that the rest of the family had no love for Saccharina, would the love that she had supplied hold true?

“What the fuck are you moping about?” Swifty asked.

She whipped her head around to look down at him. “I am _not_ moping.”

“You’re moping,” Gooey said.

Saccharina crossed her arms over her chest. “Perhaps I should have brought Jon Bon along on this adventure instead.”

“Jon Bon is surprisingly insightful, actually,” Gooey replied.

“He is,” Swifty agreed. “Like you look at the guy and you’d think he has no emotional capacity but _man_ that dude understands that shit. So maybe you should have brought him since you’re still fucking moping.”

“I am not!”

Gooey looked at her for a moment and narrowed her eyes before nodding. “You’re afraid of something.”

Saccharina just groaned in response which was clearly all the confirmation that either of them needed to know that she was, in fact, moping because she was afraid.

“We just carved that tomato ass to chin and you’re _afraid_?” Swifty asked.

“It’s about meeting Lazuli,” she explained with a sigh. “What if she rejects me? I don’t see her in every mirror as I did as a child.”

“Easy,” Swifty replied. “I’ll stick my knife between her fucking eyes.”

“I don’t think she’ll reject you,” Gooey said. “You’ve done so much in her name. You’ve preserved her legacy.”

“But the rest of the House of Rocks-” she started.

“Are idiots,” Gooey finished for her. “Their people follow them because they have to. All of yours have chosen you. I think that’s telling.”

“And if you rescue her from a gem she’s going to be pretty fucking grateful,” Swifty added. “Poor lady hasn’t been able to take a shit in 25 years!”

She scrunched up her nose at the latter half of that statement. “Thank you Gooey and Swifty for that, uh, amazing insight.”

“Am I lying? Show me the fucking lie!” Swifty said.

Saccharina shook her head. “You’re right.”

“So stop being so fucking scared!” Swifty exclaimed. “This is your _idol_ and she’s gonna teach the rest of those fuckers some fucking respect!”

She nodded. “Again, you’re right. I deserve this. I’ve worked so hard to fight for the Sweetening Path and now I’ll free the woman who taught me everything I know about it.”

Gooey slapped her on the back. “That’s the spirit.”

Saccharina was able to smile to herself. If Gooey and Swifty and Jon Bon and the rest of her Marauders were able to love and respect her for who she was, then Lazuli could too, even if her father and his family weren’t able to see it. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was alone in Castle Candy as it was. Theo was loyal beyond just his blatant sexual feelings for Gooey and would have her back.

“How will we know where it is?” Gooey asked as they approached the crossroads. “This isn’t a standard intersection of paths. There’s a bunch of land in the middle of it all.”

Saccharina felt a few sparks of magic at her fingertips. “We’re getting close. I know it. You just need to have faith, in me and in the Sweetening Path.”

“I’ll stick with you,” Swifty said.

Honestly, that much made sense. Neither of them were casters, but they were her true family and had always been loyal to her.

She let them through the tall banana trees that rose from the ground and obscured the sky with their thick peels. As it got darker and darker, Saccharina knew that she was getting closer to her goal, closer to Lazuli.

Eventually, she saw light on the horizon and the three of them walked into a beautiful clearing on the smooth shell of a massive watermelon.

“I don’t see shit,” Swifty observed, looking up at the clear blue sky. “She said it was among the clouds like the Order of the Spinning Star, but what if there aren’t any fucking clouds?”

“Do you think she floated away with them?” Gooey asked.

Saccharina shook her head. “I can feel her. She’s up there and I know it.”

“Maybe she’s invisible,” Gooey suggested.

“How the fuck are you supposed to find an invisible gem in an endless blue sky?” Swifty asked. “I’m still not certain that Caramelinda didn’t just send you here to fuck with you.”

“And send her two daughters, one of which was dead until just a few days ago, further into lands just as dangerous as this one, if not more so?” she reasoned. “This isn’t a trick. Lazuli is there, hidden among the deep blue of the sky. I need to go reach her.”

Gooey shook her head. “The only way to get up there without notifying all of Fructera is to use your magic to both make yourself invisible and to fly. I don’t think you’ll be able to concentrate on both spells at once and that means you’re going to put yourself in harm’s way. It’s a terrible idea.”

“It’s not a terrible idea, it’s only a risky one,” she corrected. “Have you ever been one to shy away from risk? Have any of us? Preserving magic, that’s worth any risk. I would die before I gave up on it.”

“You might!” Swifty piped in. “I love risks but I’m with Gooey on this one. We need to stick with what we know best: killing things.”

“If this works, we won’t have to rely on killing things as much anymore,” she told them.

Swifty didn’t look all too pleased by that response but Gooey sighed and nodded.

“You know that we can’t follow you,” she reminded her. “That, if there’s danger up there, you’ll be facing it on your own.”

“I know,” she replied.

Gooey set a hand on her shoulder. “Go. Free Lazuli. We’ll be down here waiting for the both of you and holding off anyone who dares try to attack.”

“Thank you,” Saccharina said with a smile.

She started casting fly on herself and slowly, she lifted into the air. As Saccharina rose above the treetops, she was able to see just how beautiful of a place Fructera truly was. A small part of her hoped that, when this all was over with, that Candia could find peace with the rest of the world. The people here, in their small villages dotted along the horizon, they deserved magic just as much as the people of Candia did, even if their leaders were doing anything that they could to keep it out.

Eventually, as she rose, a darker blue shape came into sight, likely the gem that she had been searching for. She must have passed through whatever illusion was keeping it invisible to onlookers on the ground which meant, to her advantage, that she was probably invisible to them now as well.

“Lazuli,” she said quietly, more to herself than anyone as excitement burst in her heart and magic flickered at her fingertips.

When she finally reached the gem, something deep inside her knew exactly what she needed to do without a shadow of a doubt.

Saccharina took a deep breath and held out a hand as she began to cast lightning lure on it so that she could shatter the gem and draw her aunt toward her before she had the chance to fall through the sky.

The gem exploded into a burst of deep blue light and Lazuli emerged, with her fine robes and circular glasses, walking serenely across the sky as if it were flat ground, seemingly unaffected by the luring effect.

“Lazuli,” she said, barely above a whisper. This was real. Her mentor, her _aunt_ was here, standing in front of her with a smile on her face.

“Saccharina,” she replied with a nod. “I always knew that you would save me. I just didn’t know when. It appears that when is now, so I thank you.”

“I can’t believe this is real,” she said in astonishment. “May I have a hug?”

Lazuli laughed and stepped forward, wrapping her in her arms. Sugary white tears began to drip down Saccharina’s cheeks. She couldn’t remember the last time that she’d been hugged like this. Maybe she never had been. All this time with the Rocks family trying to fit in and find her place and she finally got to meet the one person that she actually had a place with.

“I’ve upset you?” Lazuli asked, stepping back.

She shook her head. “I’m not upset at all, Lazuli. I’m just really happy to finally meet you. I- Well, I’ve never had any blood family that treated me like I wasn’t an outsider or a freak before. I guess I just finally feel like there’s somebody here that understands me.”

“My brother-” she started.

“He doesn’t love me,” she replied. “But he’s only just met me. He didn’t know that Catherine Ghee had a child. Why would he?”

“If he doesn’t love you, then he doesn’t see what I see,” she said with a smile. “A brilliant mind, unparalleled natural magical talent, and a heart that values the good of the many.”

“Will he ever see it?” she asked. “Will any of them? I was so excited to see that I had a sister and then Ruby, well she resents me for being what her sister was not. Is not, I suppose.”

“You are not Jet or Ruby,” Lazuli agreed. “But you shouldn’t be. You are Queen Saccharina of the House of Frostwhip, first of your name, sovereign ruler of Candia and the Sugarlands, Witch-Queen of the Dairy Sea and High Priestess of the Sweetening Path, Archmage of Lost Sucrosia, and enemy of the faith. The Sundae Sorceress and Storm-Captain of the Frosted Fleet.”

“It’s a bit of a mouthful,” she said with a laugh. “And I’m not even the ruler of Candia anymore, I suppose.”

She shrugged. “It doesn't matter to me. I think my favorite of your titles is enemy of the faith, though my dear sister Citrina would probably disagree.”

“I prefer Witch-Queen of the Dairy Sea,” she replied. “It feels very intimidating.”

Lazuli laughed. “Wonderful! Truly, you are my niece and my champion. Come, we should be getting back to the others. I would suppose that they’d want to see me sooner rather than later and I have much to show you.”

She started moving around her hands to cast a spell but Saccharina held up a hand to stop her.

“There are a few waiting for me on the ground,” she explained. “Swifty and Gooey, they’re-”

“The family that you chose for yourself,” Lazuli finished with a grin. “Beautiful! Let us fetch them and be on our way. I’d love to show them the ways of magic too, if they’re so inclined.”  
Saccharina gripped her aunt’s hands tightly and smiled as they floated down to the ground together. Sure, there was a big fight that loomed ahead of them once they returned to Castle Candy, but after that, she knew there would be an era of peace and magic.

_-a feeling-_

Liam Wilhelmina had never been certain that he didn’t belong somewhere in his life as he did on the road to freeing Citrina from her crystalline prison in the cathedral in Brightgarden.

In all truth, he had never really fit in. As a child, he hadn’t fit in with his own family. Now that he was a war guy, he might, but there was no place for a seed guy amongst all his violent and completely war-obsessed brothers. And he loved his mom but she just did not pay attention to what was going on. Nobody there had his best interests at heart so becoming his cousin’s ward truly did seem like the best possible option for him.

But he’d never really fit in that well at Castle Candy either. He may have been Amethar’s cousin but he was never really part of the family. He was a ward to keep his father in check, after all, even though he wasn’t quite sure that his dad even cared about him at all or remembered his face out of those of all his other kids. And his brothers wanted him to kill the King which was never really his jam. It wasn’t as if the Rocks family was unkind to him, he was just was an extra piece leftover in the puzzle box that didn’t really fit anywhere.

As time grew on he grew closer to the family, especially Ruby and Jet, but he had never been fool enough to believe that they saw him as a brother or anything more than a distant relative turned into a friend by proximity. At least he wasn’t a prisoner in their eyes.

The only place that Liam ever really felt like he belonged was in the forest with Preston. He got to enjoy the beauty and serenity of nature with his best friend. But now he couldn’t have that anymore and he would never be able to have it again. Preston was gone which meant that he was alone now. There wasn’t anyone left that truly understood him for who he was.

Which brought him back to the position he was in now, the one that he really didn’t belong in. It was plain and simple: there was absolutely no way that Liam could be the champion of Citrina. He wondered how Amethar would react when he returned empty-handed, surely the only one who would fail on his mission.

Getting to Brightgarden was the easy part. He snuck across Vegetania in the dead of night, when he was invisible to anyone that might be looking for him. He always found a good hiding space before the sun rose and hung out there for most of the day, eating seeds and quietly watching people pass by across the road. That part was nice. Being unseen was something he was great at and relaxing and eating seeds, well that just brought back old times in a good way, even if it did make him miss Preston even more than he already did.

It was now, standing atop the massive glass dome that blocked Brightgarden off from the rest of Vegetania, looking down at the city before he repelled down the other side to enter through the waterways that he truly felt that he was in a place that he should never have been sent to in the first place.

How could he be the champion of Citrina Rocks, a literal Saint of the Bulbian Church?

Even before it had taken so much away from him, he had never had a connection to the Bulb. His mother was a Priestess of the Sweetening Path and the very existence of his family defied just about every tradition that the Bulbian church had. And House Rocks, while being legally a part of the Bulbian Church, was never very religious while he was staying there. Caramelinda had been, though she didn’t conform to all of their strict traditions. Lapin had also taught the twins about the church as part of his duties as Chancellor, but that education hadn’t ever really been something that was fully extended to Liam.

And now, when he thought of the Bulb, all he could feel was pure hatred. It was the Bulbian Church that had killed Preston, the best friend that he had ever had, and they’d killed Lapin on the very same day, practically in the same blow. And Jet’s death hadn’t been caused by the Bulbian Church per se, but it surely wouldn't have happened if it weren’t for the events that occurred in the Cathedral.

Maybe blaming the Bulb and all its followers was just easier than blaming himself. They had been there for his trial after all. And he was the one that had sent Preston into harm's way by ordering him to protect Lapin, who was only still down there to help protect him, Jet, and Ruby. If he hadn’t cast that spell during the tournament, they would have never gotten to that point in the first place.

_No,_ he forced himself to think. _They would have found a way. They would have taken them down regardless and the King might have died if you didn’t detect that poison. The Bulb’s fault. All their fault, Liam. Not yours._

But as he looked down on this city of Vegetanian people that were so connected to the Bulb, by proximity at the very least, it wasn’t hatred that he felt. Because he saw the bustling of people under the lanterns hanging on the streets and saw that, even if this was the home of Pontifex Belizabeth Brassica, Archbishop Oliver Onionpatch, and that stupid fucking carrot, it wasn’t really all that different from Dulcington or Buzzybrook. He saw children running around in the night, certainly long after their parents had sent them to work. A group of workers walked out of a bar together, laughing and sloshing their drinks. A man and woman ran into one another’s arms and embraced as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. These weren’t villains, these were just people.

Maybe there was a boy somewhere in those streets that had a family that didn’t care for him like they should. Maybe there was one down there that felt like a prisoner in what was supposed to be a home to him. Maybe there was a boy that didn’t want sex like most teenagers did and always felt like an outsider because of it. Maybe there was a boy sitting in his bedroom in Brightgarden, looking up at the sky and wondering why he never really felt like he belonged in this city surrounded by glass.

It was the Bulb he hated and the higher up officials of the church. He couldn’t hate all of its followers. They were just people, many of them likely victims of the Bulb’s unfair rules and traditions themselves.

He continued his walk across the city’s glass roof a bit more slowly, taking in the sight of as many people as he could as he continued. It wasn’t like his real enemies would be here anyway. They were probably too busy reforming Calorum or trying to destroy his father’s last remaining outposts or beginning their march toward Castle Candy to combine their forces with those of Calroy Cruller.

Eventually, he made his way to the other side of the city. As it turns out, it was much easier than expected to sneak through a city by literally walking on top of it. If he’d been spotted by any Vegetanian stargazers, they certainly hadn’t notified the authorities. He got to the edge of the city’s roof on the side of the city that was also a massive port and descended its side as carefully and quietly as he could, landing on soft feet on the boardwalk.

It had taken him longer than he’d hoped to get across the roof which meant that he was going to have to grab Citrina and hide as fast as he could or hide out now and wait until the following night. In the end, he decided that he didn’t want to spend any more time waiting around and doing nothing than he had to and some company would probably be nice. After all, he had grown much more accustomed to spending time around others since he originally left for Calorum with King Amethar.

That left him about an hour and a half to get Citrina and leave. Sunrise would leave them with two major dangers: the risk of being spotted and killed or thrown in prison or the risk of being broken down where they stood by the morning showers supplied courtesy of the Brightgarden sprinkler system. It was going to have to be a quick trip, but he was fast. He only hoped that Citrina could keep up.

He grabbed an empty barrel and made his way to the smallest of the rivers, one that was large enough to supply water to some of the citizens but not large enough where there would be ships passing through under the watchful supervision of city guards. He climbed into the barrel and let the current take him rushing into the city, under the glass walls without ever having to pass by any guards at all. He only hoped that they wouldn’t be very focused on people who left the city, seeing as he wouldn’t be able to take this river back out and would either have to walk through the doors to the city or sneak his way through one of the bigger rivers that ran back out to sea.

The cathedral was a beautiful building of marbled stone, stained glass windows depicting the Bulb’s miracles on each side. Its massive wooden doors remained open, even in the dead of night, so that the citizens of Brightgarden could pop in for a prayer whenever convenient for them. From a sneaking in perspective, that made things a bit easier for Liam, as these doors would be difficult and noisy to open and close. It also increased his risk of getting caught, though. Anybody could walk in at any time. For all he knew, there could be people in there right now, offering up a prayer as they got off the night shift.

Still, he had to sneak in now. Time was limited and, if there were other people inside, hopefully, he could pass all this off as saying a prayer, not that he knew how to free Citrina anyway.

Luckily, it seemed that he would be able to try what he liked to free her, as the rows of fine mahogany pews were barren, as was the altar, an admittedly beautiful raised platform at the front of the church with elegant carvings of saints placed around it and tapestries intricate in design hanging in the back around the large stained-glass depiction of the bulb at the very back.

But the thing that caught his attention most wasn’t on the altar. No, Liam’s attention was drawn upward, for where the gabled area of the roof above the altar came to a point, there laid a perfectly round gemstone, pale yellow in color. There, Citrina laid captured.

He wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to do. Part of him considered shooting a crossbow bolt at it but he didn’t want to risk screwing it up and her becoming trapped forever.

Liam Wilhelmina wasn’t sure if he was a seed guy or a war guy, but he certainly wasn’t a _words_ guy. Regardless, he was willing to give it a try.

“Citrina,” he called out. “I’m here to free you.”

Silence.

“Time is kind of pressing, I think you should come out so we should go.”

Nothing.

“Should I just shoot the gem?” he asked. “Because I can. I just don’t want you to die or anything.”

Unsurprisingly, there was no response.

He let out a weary sigh and sat down on the ground.

“I don’t know why I was sent here. I’m not your champion,” he told the gem, as if it would give him any response. “I- I _hate_ the Bulb. Yet, I’m expected to save the one Rocks sister that represents everything that I despise. Everything that’s hurt me.”

He was growing angrier now, climbing back to his feet with his fists clenched. “I’m really supposed to be _your_ champion? It’s because of the Bulb that the stupid carrot killed Preston, my best friend in the world, the creature that was there for me when nobody else was.”

Liam closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. It was always harder to admit that the full extent of his loss stretched further than just the loss of Preston. “And it’s because of the Bulb that Lapin is dead and that Jet was dead. It was the power of the Sweetening Path that brought her back. Not the Bulb. Not you, cousin. I don’t understand how I could be the champion for a woman who spent her entire life dedicated to the very thing that brought me and the people that I love so much pain.”

The church was silent.

Liam drew his crossbow in anger but couldn’t bring himself to shoot the gem, to risk Citrina’s life even now. Instead, he leveled it at the stained-glass depiction of the Bulb on the altar and let a bolt loose, shattering it in an explosion of colorful glass.

He turned around to leave, well aware that he had to get out _now_ or he would miss his chance at escaping Brightgarden. Even if he returned without Citrina, he still needed to get home to offer his services in freeing Candia from Cruller.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Liam froze. How was it that somebody had caught up with him already?

He turned to find himself faced with Citrina, golden skin glittering in the light of the slowly rising sun.

“The Bulb is not bad, nor is it good. It’s a source of power that people use to fuel their intentions,” she explained to him. “I am very sorry that the intentions of those who claim to represent it have been causing you hurt. They’ve caused me much pain as well.”

His eyes widened. “I don’t understand. I’m your champion after all?”

She smiled softly. “Of course you are. Your heart is true, Liam Wilhelmina.”

“But I don’t represent the Bulb. I represent- well, I’m not even sure yet.”

“You don’t,” she agreed. “But above all, I believe in love and being true to yourself, even when you’re not quite sure who that might be. Your anger and your despair, it comes from selflessness deep within your heart. You wish you were in their place, even if you know it would do you no good. Their sacrifices are their own and the fact they were taken from you is the fault of those who did the taking. You are a man who fills the world with love. Continuing to do so is what will truly make the world a better place.”

“So you’re saying we should win this war with _love_?” he asked.

“No,” she replied. “I am saying that we should win it with love in our hearts as we create a better future for those who come after us. Let’s get back home. There’s work to do.”

She marched into the streets of Brightgarden, leaving Liam to run to catch up with her.

_-a wink-_

Ruby wasn’t angry. A bit bitter? Perhaps. Okay, a lot bitter. And maybe a smidge angry. Because it wasn’t fair that Saccharina fucking Frostwhip, the Queen of stealing everything that belonged to her actual family, got to swoop in and take yet another thing from her.

Ever since Ruby saw the Swirler Sisters perform, since she connected the power behind those circus tricks to the arcane abilities her aunt possessed, she knew that she wanted to be like Lazuli, no, she _had_ to be like Lazuli.

And she worked at it. She practiced magic, _worshipped_ magic, even after she knew that it was something that could endanger her. She saw Lazuli during her brush with death on the Sucrosi road. She even _wielded her bow_. It would only be logical that she would be her champion.

But then Saccharina showed up, right as Ruby was coping with the loss of her real sister. Saccharina, who declared herself Queen of Candia and Ruby’s elder sister in the same breath, who turned out to be Lazuli’s champion, taking yet another thing away from Ruby and her family.

It made sense that Saccharina was Lazuli’s champion. She had been seeing her throughout her entire life and she was a far better caster than Ruby. After all, Saccharina was called the Witch Queen of the Dairy Sea, the High Priestess of the Sweeting Path, the Archmage of Lost Sucrosia, and, because that wasn’t enough, the Sundae Sorceress. It made every spell that Ruby had ever cast look like little more than yet another stupid circus trick.

Ruby wasn’t good enough to be Lazuli’s champion. Nobody would say it out loud, but it seemed as if it were the obvious truth. She had worshipped the idea of Lazuli and tried to emulate what she did but she’d gotten passed over for the job, getting sent after Sapphria instead.

And, well, she felt a bit like an ass when she thought about how she didn’t want to be Sapphria’s champion. She was a Rocks sister like the rest of them; she was family. And it wasn’t as if her father had given her a bad rap or anything. He spoke of all of his sisters with nothing but love and adoration for them and grief for their loss. Sapphria was no different.

But here was the truth of it: Rococoa was a general, Lazuli was an archmage, and Citrina was a Saint. The primary title that Sapphria bore was Princess, a title that all of the rest of them carried but had excelled beyond. It was like Ruby had drawn the short stick, having to march her way through a desert of grain to fetch the diplomat.

That was another element of all of this. Sapphria was known for her diplomatic abilities, for playing nice in court. Ruby had no desire to show any kindness and respect to people that treated her family like they’d been treated in the capital, the people that had seen Annabelle thrown out of court years ago. She was Ruby fucking Rocks, Bastard of the Realm, and pretending to be someone else for even a couple of days sounded absolutely unbearable.

Part of her felt like she shouldn’t be a champion at all if she couldn’t be Lazuli’s champion, which was a bit of a selfish thought. Ruby didn’t match up with Sapphria like she should but neither did anyone else. Somebody had to save her if they were going to win this war, though she wasn’t sure that there was very much that they could do diplomatically at this point. Maybe Sapphria’s use laid in the aftermath, when they had to pick up the shattered pieces and put their nation and Calorum as a whole back together.

If nothing else, she was doing this for her father. Sapphria was his sister and he loved her just as much as he loved the other three. She could bring her back to him. After all, Ruby was nothing if not loyal to her family.

It was only when she found herself faced with seemingly endless massive dunes of grain that she realized that, with all the time that she had spent moping and overthinking the whole champion thing, she had never once put any thought into where this gem actually could be. A whole journey and all that she knew was it was somewhere in the dunes, as if they didn’t span miles and miles, as if there would be any magic indicator that would lead her exactly where she needed to go. Not to mention the fact that she had no idea how she was supposed to free Sapphria when she did find the gem.

She was going to have to find someone, probably. There had to be locals, even if there didn’t currently appear to be a town in sight. If she kept walking, she would probably stumble upon a town or an inn or even just another traveler as weary as she was eventually.

In order to ask questions, Ruby was going to have to disguise herself but she didn’t actually speak any Ceresian so she couldn’t disguise herself as someone that she passed by on her way here. The Dairy Islands were in better standing with Ceresia than Candia was but it would still be a bit of a shaky disguise. Going as a random Fructaran that she had caught a good glance at in Comida was probably her best bet, as she was pretty proficient in Fructerano. She’d don the disguise of a Fructeran traveler, gone on a journey to find all the wondrous anomalies of the natural world. Hopefully, she could find someone that spoke enough of the language to lead her in the direction of a mysterious blue gem hidden among the grain somewhere in the dunes.

Someone said something behind her in a language she didn’t recognize, probably Ceresian and she whipped around. What kind of rogue was she if she was so easily distracted by her own thoughts that she couldn’t even notice someone at her back.

It was a child, no older than 10 years old. He smiled up at her with chubby cheeks and spoke in heavily accented Candian. “You are from Candia?”

She looked him up and down for a moment. He didn’t look particularly threatening but, then again, neither did she. Still, there was no lying now that he’d seen her, at least nothing that she could do that was convincing.

“I am,” she replied with a nod. “You speak Candian?”

“My teacher at school is half-Candian so she teaches it to us,” he replied. “Except she’s not allowed to teach it anymore ‘cause there’s a war.”

“Well, you speak it very well,” she told him. “I don’t speak Ceresian at all really. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you here?” he asked her. “Are you a spy?”

“I-” she started.

“And just so you know, if you’re a spy, I won’t tell anybody,” he continued. “My mom says that it’s not fair that there’s a war because you guys didn’t do anything and because the Imperator stole our whole government away to make Ceresia fight and she’s sad because the army came and took my dad away to fight even though he wanted to stay home with us.”

“I’m on a mission,” she admitted to him. “But it has to stay a secret. If I succeed, hopefully, there’s a way that we can stop the war sooner.”

“And my dad will come home sooner?” he asked.

_Or he’ll die,_ she thought to herself but instead, she plastered a smile on her face. “I sure hope so.”

He nodded. “Then I can help you with your mission.”

She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she could truly trust this boy or if giving away her quest was going to bite her in the ass in an hour or so. In the end, she had to trust him. She was looking for a singular shiny rock in an endless sea of grain. She was never going to find it if she never asked anyone.

“I’m looking for a gem,” she told him. “It’ll be light blue and it’s somewhere in the dunes. I can’t exactly explain why; I don’t particularly think you’d believe me if I did. I need to find it, though. Everything depends on me finding this gem.”

The boy's eyes widened. “You’re looking for-” and then he said something in Ceresian that she didn’t quite understand.

“I didn’t really catch that word,” she told him.

He shook his head. “I don’t know what the name for it is in Candian. I just know that it’s cursed.”

Ruby’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s _cursed?_ ”

It didn’t make sense. Surely her aunt wouldn’t have placed a curse on what were probably innocent citizens, Ceresian or not.

He nodded. “It is on top of the highest dune and shines throughout the entire night. All I know that the government has sent people, soldiers usually, to bury it so that it can’t be found and so the light doesn’t bother people at night, and anyone who touches it is struck with a horrible sickness that goes away when they leave the dunes. It has to be some sort of evil magic.”

“She wants to be found,” Ruby muttered out loud. “She’s fighting, even now.”

Perhaps that was something that they had in common. After all, when her family was at stake, she wasn’t about to roll over and give up. She’d fight tooth and nail to keep them safe. Here she was, marching through the dunes in excruciating heat, to save an aunt that she’d never met. Maybe they weren’t different in every way.

The boy cocked his head. “She?”

Her head snapped toward him. “Where is the gem?”

He pointed east. “It’s hard to explain, exactly, since all the dunes look the same, but it’s on the biggest one. If you want to find it, though, I’d wait until it’s night. You can see the blue light all across the desert.”

“You’re very kind,” she told him with a soft smile. “Thank you for helping me.”

“Of course,” he said with a nod. “You can finish your mission and then I can see my dad soon.”

“I’ll get him home to you,” she promised, even though she wasn’t sure that those were words that she could actually hold true to.

He ran toward her and hugged her waist tightly. “Thank you,” he said before running away, through the dunes of grain.

She gazed at the boy for a moment, a boy who just wanted to protect his dad from miles upon miles away, and she saw a bit of herself. After all, she wasn’t actually here to save Candia, was she? In the end, she was here to protect her family.

And so Ruby continued her trek, in the direction that the boy had pointed, more motivated to find the gem than ever before.

The rest of the day passed by as she accomplished relatively nothing. Ruby’s only companion was the sweltering heat as she trudged through the grain, nothing useful in sight as she walked. She kind of wished that she had brought Yak along because at least then she’d have a friend of sorts, but in the end, a falcon wasn’t exactly inconspicuous if she were to happen upon someone and, if she sent him up in the sky to do some scouting, he could give away her position since the dunes were kind of a dead zone for wildlife during the day.

The sun began to set as she sat alone in a valley, wiping the sweat from her brow as she had some of the granola that was left in her bag and a very small sip of water from her canteen. She was realizing now that she would have to bring another person back with her and that she might not have the resources to do that properly, so she needed to preserve them the best they could. It wasn’t as if they were going to be stopping in any towns on the way back.

She closed her eyes for a moment, just to rest them before the light was completely gone and she would be better guided to continue her search. She had been traveling nonstop for almost 24 hours now, after all.

When she opened her eyes again, it was the dead of night, stars glimmering high in the sky above her and, to her left, a weird blue light shining brightly in the distance. She needed to go, and she needed to go now.

Ruby tore off through the dunes. She didn’t know what time it was which meant that she had no idea how long she had until the sun rose and her aunt’s shining blue beacon was lost in the light.

Eventually, just as the sun began to appear again on the horizon, Ruby found herself at the base of the biggest dune that she had ever seen, blue light still shining brightly at the top.

Her entire body ached from running through the desert and her lungs burned for the water that she needed to preserve. What would have been a minor inconvenience to scale less than a day ago seemed like an insurmountable feat now.

Still, she climbed, forcing her pain aside. Sapphria had been inside that gem for 25 years, using what little energy she had to keep herself uncovered and to light up the desert every night. The grit and power that must have taken, well, it made her slow ascent seem like nothing.

She pushed and pushed and, eventually, she collapsed next to a beautiful light blue gem embedded in the sand.

“Aunt Sapphria, if you curse me with some horrible illness, we’re going to have some words,” she panted as she twisted open her canteen and took a swig.

“I’m pretty good with words,” a voice said and she heard somebody lay down beside her. “But I wasn’t planning on cursing you anyway. I don’t really think I can anymore. Magic was never exactly my forte. I guess it just works a little bit differently when you’re being trapped by it. I can’t turn it against people if I don’t have access to it anymore.”

Ruby’s eyes widened and she sat straight up, looking at the woman beside her, wearing the tattered clothes of a warrior. “I thought you’d be more trouble to set free.”

Sapphria laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m only trouble for my enemies. Not for the girl who has the potential to be Candia’s best spy since I gave my life up for it. Or well, not my life entirely, I suppose.”

“I’m not a spy,” she told her. “I’m a fighter, but only because I have to be.”

“You’re curious,” she told her. “And you’re willing to take risks for the people you care about. You’ve got the makings of a spy. I can only hope that you won’t need to be one.”

“I thought you were just a Princess,” she admitted.

“As did my enemies,” she told her. “Underestimation is a fantastic tool when it comes to besting those who would hurt you.”

“The Carnish assassins-” she said. “They knew you were a spy.”

“I made a hard decision,” she explained. “I allowed myself to be taken out so that Basha could challenge for the throne, so that the Meat Lands would pull out of the war. In the end, I think that I chose correctly. After all, you’re here, aren’t you?”

“I wanted to be Lazuli’s champion,” she confessed. “I never realized that you did any of that.”

Sapphria smiled. “Nobody wants to be the person who does the work behind-the-scenes. My sisters’ feats surely got them recognition beyond my imagination while my legacy was just that of another sister. But I know my accomplishments and how they helped our people. That’s what really matters.”

“Well, I’m glad to be your champion now,” she told her as she struggled to her feet. “We should get going. There’s a bit of an imminent war in Candia and, well, I don’t have enough food and water for us to be slacking around.”

She hopped to her feet beside Ruby. “Well, let’s go save Candia, then.”

_-an embrace-_

The four sisters converged, their champions following not far behind, at a small cabin on a hill outside Dulcington. Their brother ran out to meet them in an embrace and, for a moment, they were kids again. There was no war, past or present, just a family, together after so much time spent apart, caught up in the feeling of being together. To the Rocks siblings, being united made the rest of the world fall away, even if just for a moment. To the rest of the world, however, the unity of the Rocks siblings was a threat greater than all of Calorum’s armies marching upon Castle Candy, that much had been obvious after the first war.

The champions found each other as well, the twins hugging each other as tightly as they could and quickly making room for Liam.

After a moment, Ruby held out her hand toward Saccharina, knowing that she was as essential as the rest of them and maybe, if she had gone so far to save Candia, it was worth giving her another chance.

Caramelinda stood to the side, watching everyone embrace with a smile, her hair whipping in the wind. She still worried about the days ahead. After all, the last war had stolen her beloved from her. But still, she had hope. They were more powerful than ever before, even with a diminished army.

More selfishly, she smiled for her own happiness. The woman she loved had returned, as well as some of the best friends that she had ever had, and both of her daughters were here, alive and well, to enjoy this moment with her.

After a moment, Lazuli broke from the embrace and walked over to her, taking her hand tenderly into her own.

“You were right,” Caramelinda told her.

“About what, my love?”

“It’s another time entirely,” she replied. “Things have changed so much.”

Lazuli reached forward and toyed with the gem on her necklace for the first time in many years.

“And yet some things remain the same.”


End file.
